Chapter Two

"Don't worry, the back up lights will come on any minute now." Someone said in the front of the room. Frank recognized the voice as the man Charlie called Greg. He must own this place, Frank thought to himself.

No sooner had he said it, the lights came back on. Frank saw Greg on the stage with the girls from the band all huddled together. What he saw disturbed him. He now only saw three of what began as a five-girl band.

"Are you girls alright?" Asked Greg.

"I think so…" Mumbled the guitarist.

"What happened, Greg?"

"I don't know. The lights just quit. We may have blown a fuse or something…"

The girls murmured excitedly.

Suddenly the keyboardist spoke up. "Wait! Where's Charlie?"

"She's gone!" The remaining two girls began to look wildly around themselves.

"Ann is missing too!" Said the drummer.

Frank caught sight of his brother and they both started for the stage.

"Is something wrong?" Frank asked as he approached the club owner.

"Nothing to worry yourself about." The redheaded keyboardist told him with a flippant nod of her head. She was trying to act tough, but Frank could see in her eyes, just how concerned she really was.

"Are you sure? We may be able to help." Joe's voice came from Frank's left.

"We don't even know what is going on ourselves. And how would be able to help us?" The drummer asked looking unhappily down upon the two brothers.

"Look, I'm Frank Hardy and this is my brother Joe..." Frank got onto the stage with Joe following closely at his heels.

"Wait! Hardy?" The plump club owner eyed one brother then the other. "Any relation to Fenton Hardy, the private detective?"

"He's our father." Said Joe.

"Is everything going alright up here, Mr. Pierce?"

The Hardy's turned as another man climbed onto the stage. With his bleach blonde hair and sunglasses, Frank instantly identified him as being the band's manager.

"I'm afraid not, MK." Greg frowned solemnly. "It seems that two of your band members have vanished!"

"Vanished?" MK looked to the girls as if counting heads.

"Yes, sir."

"Well then what are you doing standing around here for? Someone should be on the phone with the police!"

"I'll do it!" Volunteered the redhead.

"No, Dawn. I don't want to let any more of you girls out of my sight." MK turned to Joe. "Why don't you do it?"

"Me?"

"Joe…" Frank gave him a warning look and the younger Hardy soon slunk off to complete the task.

"Who's this?"

When Frank turned back to the group, he caught the man that went by MK staring straight at him. "Um…my name's Frank Hardy, sir. I was at a table when the lights went out and I just wandered up here to see if I could help."

MK frowned at him. Frank didn't like how the man looked down on him. Frank hated being so critically judged by someone who couldn't be much older then himself. He's probably twenty-five at the oldest. Frank decided.

"He's the son of Fenton Hardy. The private investigator!" Greg piped up in Frank's defense.

"Is that so?" MK's gaze wandered back to the eldest brother.

Frank nodded.

"Then do you think you could get your father on my case, Mr. Hardy?"

"Well, sir. I was actually thinking that you may consider hiring my brother and I--"

"You?! You're just a punk teenager! Why would I hire you?"

Frank kept his cool, "My brother and I are amateur detectives, sir. We solve mysteries all the time."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"We don't charge anything…"

"Get out of here!"

Joe returned then. "The police are on their way."

"Good." MK frowned once more at Frank before turning to what was left of his band. "Come on, girls. Let's sit down while we wait for the police to arrive." He began herding the girls off stage and to a nearby table.

Joe went to his brother. "Who was that guy?"

Frank shrugged. "I don't know, but he wasn't very friendly…"

Greg stepped forward. "His name is Marley Kane. MK for short He's the band's business manager." Frank and Joe exchanged worried looks. They hadn't realized Greg had been listening into their conversation.

"Look boys," Greg continued, placing a hand on each of their shoulders, "I don't care what MK said about you two not being experienced detectives and stuff. Your dad's a legend as far as I'm concerned, and I'm willing to give the second generation a chance. I want you guys to take this case. How about it? If word got out that two girls got kidnapped from my club, I could be ruined!"

Frank and Joe exchanged glances. Here they were, getting the job offer they had been hoping for, but should they take it?

"Okay, Mr. Pierce."

"Call me Greg."

"Alright, Greg. We'll help."

Greg's face broke into a grin and he slapped both of the boys on the back, "Thanks fellas. You don't understand what this means to me. I mean… the club's all I got!"

Just then they heard sirens approach as several police cars pulled into the club's lot. The audience began to buzz excitedly, talking amongst themselves in worried tones.

"You'd better go explain the situation to the audience." Frank said, nudging Greg towards the microphone. "Don't worry. We'll start looking into things."

Greg nodded and headed for the microphone.

"Well, Frank. Where do you want to start?" Joe turned to his brother.

"With the group, but let's wait until the police have got MK occupied."

"Alright, then." Joe nodded.

"Until then," Frank spoke again, "Let's first take a look around, see if we can find anything."

"Right-T-O! Lead the way, big brother!"

* * *

It wasn't long before the place was swarming with cops. Frank and Joe took a look around the stage and then returned to the table where their chums sat waiting.

"What's up?" Asked Tony.

"Looks like a kidnapping." Frank replied grimly. "Seems two of the band members are missing."

"Missing?"

"Yeah, vanished when the lights went off."

Tony and the rest nodded.

"And let me guess, the Hardys are on the case?" Chet asked.

"You've got it." Said Joe.

"Need any help?"

Frank looked to Callie. "Sure. After the police left, I thought we should question a few audience members. See if they saw anything."

She nodded.

"We'll all help you." Biff volunteered. "Just tell us what to do."

Frank nodded. "Hang tight for now. We'll let you know when we need you."

"The ever-present Hardy Boys, I should have known…"

Frank and Joe both turned around to see Chief Collig frowning at them. Chief Collig was the head of police at Bayport and was always butting heads with the amateurs. It didn't surprise Frank one bit to see him there. Nor did it surprise him when the Chief again, tried to warn them off the case.

"Don't think because you were here first that you can go and solve this thing by yourselves." Said the Chief, echoing Frank's thoughts.

"Oh we don't think, we know we can!" Snapped Joe.

Frank frowned at his brother.

Joe looked up at Frank and shrugged. Then looked back to the chief, who was now frowning at both of the boys.

"Stay out of this. Got it? I don't want you anywhere near this case." Chief Collig warned the boys again, before walking off to rejoin his fellow officers.

"Are you going to let him push you around like that?" Callie asked, with a smile, looking from one Hardy to the other.

"Not a chance." Joe said, turning around to grin at her.

"So," Biff looked to the brothers. "What's our first move?"

"Once the police are done with the band, I'd like to talk to them myself. The rest of you can start questioning the other audience members then." Frank looked to his friends for approval. They all nodded.

* * *

Moments later, Frank saw the chief walking off with the band's manager, leaving the Sweethearts alone. "Joe? Let's go."

"Finally." Joe stood up and the two brothers approached the girls' table.

"Hey it's the Hardy's again." The redheaded girl said as she spotted the brothers walking toward them. She gave them a weak smile followed by a flutter of her fingers.

"Yes ma'am, that's us." Joe said walking up to the table with his older brother in tow and a large grin on his face.

"I guess you want to talk to us too." The lead guitarist said.

Joe's smile vanished and he looked worriedly at Frank.

"Chill, we've been talking to Greg. We think it's cool that you wanna help us out." She replied tracing the scars on the wooden table with her fingernail. "By the way, I'm Leslie and this is Sammy and Dawn."

"Nice to meet you all." Frank shook each girl's hand. "Now who did you say was missing? Your lead singer? Charlie, correct?"

"Yeah, and our bass player." Dawn added glumly. "Her name's Ann."

"Hmm… odd." Joe said thinking aloud.

"What are you thinking, Joe?" Frank turned to his younger brother.

"Why would the kidnapper target just those two?" Joe looked to the girls for the answer.

"Well, Charlie's the leader. And Ann writes most of our songs..." Sammy told the boys.

"Without them, we don't have a lead singer or our lead song writer. Our band is about to go down the tubes." Dawn said with a huff.

"Don't worry." Joe said, hoping to lift the girls' spirits, "We'll find them."

"Yeah, but we are going to have to ask you a few questions first." Frank said, "Did you hear or see anything weird before the lights went out?" He looked to the three girls

"Not that I can think of." Sammy told him.

"Me either." Said Dawn.

"Um…" Leslie cocked her head in thought. "No. I don't think so."

"Is there any reason why Charlie or Ann may have wanted to disappear?" Joe asked.

"You mean, you actually think Charlie and Ann may have purposefully ditched us?"

"It's just a thought." Frank said defending his brother.

"Well…" Dawn thought for a while. "Charlie did have this one boyfriend once. He ended up being a real creep. Wouldn't leave her alone. He'd buy her flowers and chocolates and even a note here and there; even after they broke up."

"What's his name?" Asked Frank.

"Gary. Gary…" Dawn looked to her friends for help.

"Gary Brent." Leslie provided.

"Any idea where he lives?"

"In an apartment in upper Manhattan. I don't remember the address."

Frank nodded.

"You know, now thinking back, I remember seeing him a couple of nights ago at the club." Said Dawn.

"When was that?"

"Last Saturday. He came to see Charlie. They got in this huge argument."

"Any idea what they argued about?"

Dawn shook her head. "No. Charlie wouldn't talk about it."

Frank nodded again and then looked to his brother. "We should probably pay Mr. Brent a visit."

Joe nodded.

"Let us know what you guys find out." Said Sammy. "She handed Joe a card. "This is the hotel we're staying at. Just call the man at the front desk and he should be able to tell you what room we're in."

Joe took the card and pocketed it. "Okay, thanks."

"If you think of anything else that may help, call us." Said Frank. He handed Sammy a card of his own where he had scribbled down their phone number. "If nobody answers, just leave a message."

Sammy nodded.

The Hardy brothers soon returned to their table and found all their friends already there.

"Find anything?" Asked Callie.

"We have a few leads. How about you guys?"

Biff shook his head. "Not a thing. Everyone basically remembers watching the band and then the lights going out."

"Same story for all of us." Tony added.

Joe looked to Frank. "Great…"

"Anyways, we were thinking of heading out just as soon as the police allow it." Chet said.

"Okay." Frank nodded. "Joe and I will probably do the same."

* * *

When the Hardy brothers got home that night, their aunt and parents were already in bed. Joe wasted no time in hurrying to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Frank meanwhile, dawdled a bit downstairs, writing down all the information he had gathered from the Sweethearts in a notebook.

"Gary Brent…" He tapped the name with a pencil, as he looked it over. The name for some reason sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't place it.

"What's up?" Joe entered the kitchen where he saw his brother bent over the phone.

"Gary Brent. Does the name mean anything to you?" Frank looked to his brother.

"Wasn't that the name of Charlie's ex-boyfriend?"

"No, I mean other then that. Have you heard it before?"

Joe shrugged. "No. I don't think so. Why?"

"I don't know, I just feel I've heard that name before…"

Joe shook his head and got down a glass, filling it with water from the tap. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

"You think to much, big brother. Why not give it a rest and we'll pick it up in the morning?"

Frank shrugged. "I don't know…"

"Seriously. We'll accomplish more if we're rested. We can't do anything more tonight. The police searched the premises. The girls are gone."

"I guess you're right…"

Suddenly, the phone rang. Frank instantly snatched it up. "Hello?"

"Hello? Frank?"

Sammy.

"Yeah, it's me, what's up?"

"You'll never believe it!" She sounded excited and Frank wondered why. "We just found Ann!"